Water-cooled headwear



.#1. w. Hl-:NscHL WATER-comma HEADWEAR FIG. l

April 17, 1962 Filed Sept. 26, 1957 INVENTOR. JOSEPH w. HENSGHEI.

ATTY.

April' 17, 1962 J. w. HENscHEL 3,029,438

WATER-coman HEADWEAR Filed sept. ze, 1957 z sheets-sheet 2 ANW?? mINVENTOR. JOSEPH W HENSCHEL.

nite States Patent 3,029,438 Patented Apr. 17, 1962 ice This inventionrelates to certain new and useful improvements in headwear and, moreparticularly, to headwear having a water-cooled sweat-band.

Farmers, workmen, Sportsmen, golfers, tennis players, and all othertypes of persons who are out in the sun during summer weather can becomedangerously overheated if the head is not adequately protected. To thisend, various kinds of headwear has been developed ranging from pithhelmets `or toppees to uniform caps With insets of mesh fabric or wirein the sidewalls. All such headwear, however, is designed on the basisof providing adequate ventilation or air circulation through the crown.Unfortunately, these expedients are not particularly effective, and areof little or no value on very hot humid days. Furthermore, thesweat-band in such headwear lies directly against the forehead of thewearer in an area where perspiration is the heaviest. Consequently, thesweat-band quickly becomes soaked with stale perspiration and is bothodoriferous and uncomfortable.

Itis one of the objects of the present invention to provide a cap orsimilar item of headwear having a sweabband therein which is capable ofcooling the head of the wearer for a relatively long period of time.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide an item ofheadwear of the type stated, which is Capable of storing a substantialquantity of water so that evaporation of the water will provide coolingto the head of the wearer.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an itemof headwear of the type stated, wherein the sweat-band may beconveniently and easily saturated with water when desired.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in thenovel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination ofparts presently described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings (two sheets)- FIG. l is a perspective viewof a cap constructed in accordance with and embodying the presentinvention;

.2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 3 is a fragmentarysectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a headband constructed accordance lwithand embodying the present invention; FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectionalview taken along line 5 5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to FIG. 5 and showing amodified form of sweat-band.

Referring now in more detail and by reference characters to thedrawings, which illustrate a .practical embodiment of the presentinvention, A designates a sport cap having a crown 1 and a forwardlyextending bill or visor 2. The crown 1 consists of a top panel 3 ofclosely woven porous fabric marginally stitched aroud its outerperiphery to an annular side wall 4, which is preferably of a coarselywoven open mesh plastic fabric. The side wall 4 terminates in spacedforwardly presented margins 5, to `which is stitched va front panel 7,the latter being of the same material as that of the side wall 4. Thefront panel 7 is, furthermore, stitched at its upper margin 8 to the toppanel 3.

Stitched at its lower margin to the side wall 4 and front panel 7 is anannular sweat-band 9 having spaced opposed ends 10, 111, located at therear of the cap and joined together by means of an elastic band 12,which expands so as to compensate for small variations in head sizes.The sweat-band 9, furthermore, includes an an-` nular water-absorbentsponge strip 13 which normally rests facewise against the annular wall 4and front panel' 7. Secured to, and substantially co-extensive with, thesponge strip 13 is a thin aluminum head-contacting strip '14 and thestrips 13, 14, are stitched together at their longitudinal margins bymeans of upper yand lower hems 15, 16, respectively, the hem 16 beingstitched to the lower margin of the annular wall 4 and front panel 7, asbest seen in FIG. 3.

In use, the sponge strip 13 is saturated with water by pouring a smallamount of -water through the coarse woven fabric forming the annularwall 4 and front panel 7 so as to thoroughly saturate the sponge strip13. Alternatively, if desired, the cap A may be immersed in water tosaturate the sponge strip 13. The cap is then worn in the usual manner,in which case the aduminum strip fits snugly against the head of thewearer, and they sunlight will cause the water to evaporate from thesponge layer 13, thereby cooling the aluminum strip 14, which, beinghighly heat conductive, in turn cools the head of the wearer. Capsmanufactured in accordance with the present invention have been found toretainV suflicient water so as to provide noticeable cooling for severalhours, and, upon complete evaporation of the water within the sponge 13,it is merely necessary to resaturate the sponge strip 13 in the mannerpreviously described. Furthermore, by using relatively coarsely wovenfabric in the annular wall 4 and front panel 7, the sponge strip 13 canbe quickly and easily staturated with water, and, moreover, the coarselywoven fabric permits a rapid evaporation of the water therethrough, and,consequently, a comfortable and prolonged cooling is obtained.

It is also possible to provide a mcdilied form of the present inventionas shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, wherein B designates a headband comprising anannular sweat band 17, having stitched thereto a forwardly extendingbill or visor 18. The band 17 terminates in opposed margins 19, 20,which are connected by short fabric strips 21, 22, which, in turn, arelooped about an elastic ring 23, the latter being utilized to compensatefor small Variations in head sizes. The sweat-band 17 comprises analuminum strip 24 and a sponge strip 25 similar to the aluminum strip 14and sponge strip 13 previously described. The outer -face of the spongestrip 25 is covered by a fabric layer 26 preferably of a highlywater-absorbent closely woven material and the layer 26 and aluminumstrip 24 are stitched together at their longitudinal margins by means ofhems 27, 28. If desired, however, the fabric layer 26 may be of thecoarsely woven fabric used in the annular wall 4. The headband B is usedin the same manner as that of the cap A previously described and thesponge strip 25 is saturated by immersing the headband B in water or bymerely pouring water over the fabric strip 26.

It is also possible to provide a modified form of sweatband 29 which issimilar to the sweat-bands 9, A17, previously described, and includes analuminum strip 30, a fabric cover strip 31 and opposed longitudinal hems32, 33. Stitched to the fabric layer 31, and confined between the layer31 and aluminum strip 30, are a plurality of annular adjacent elongatedtubular sponge elements 34, 35, 36, which may be saturated with water sothat evaporation therefrom will cool the aluminum strip 30. `It will beapparent that the sweat-band 29 may be utilized with either the cap A orheadband B. l

it should be understood that changes and modifications in the form,construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of thewater-cooled headwear may be made and substituted for those herein shownand described 3 without departing from the nature and principle of myinvention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. A headband comprising a visor, an annular sweatband marginallysecured to said visor, said sweatband including an annular strip formedof thin malleable metal foil and having an inwardly presented face andan outwardly presented face, said inwardly presented face being adaptedfor contact directly against the brow and head of the wearer, a Watersaturable sponge layer positioned facewise against the outwardlypresented face of said strip and being slightly narrower than said stripso that its longitudinal margins extend in inwardly spaced parallelrelation to the longitudinal margins of the strip, a fabric layerdisposed against the outwardly presented face of the sponge layer andextending inwardly around the longitudinal margins thereof for atwiseoverlying contact against the projecting portions of the strip, and apair of hems extending enclosingly around and being stitched to thefabric layer vand strip in the region Where said fabric layer and stripare in overlying engagement.

2. An article of headwear comprising a head-contacting band, said bandhaving a heat-conductive strip formed of thin malleable metal foilhaving an inwardly presented surface and an outwardly presented surface,said inwardly presented surface being adapted for direct contactiveengagement with the brow and head of the wearer, a plurality ofelongated water-retentive sponges of substantially ellipticalcross-sectional shape secured directly to the outer face of the strip intangent relation thereto and also in tangent relation to each other, thecombined Width of said sponges being somewhat smaller than the width ofthe strip so that the strip extends marginally beyond the combined widthof the sponges, thereby forming outwardly projecting longitudinalflanges therealong, an outwardly presented covering fabric layerenclosing the outer surfaces of the sponges and extending around theopposite longitudinal margins of the outermost sponges into facewiseoverlying engagement with the flanges formed by the strip, and hemsenclosingly disposed around and stitched to the strip and the fabriclayer in the region of said ilanges for securing the sponges in tangentcontactive relationship to the strip and to each other and also forholding the sponges in such a manner as to enclose elongated airchannels between the sponges and the strip to facilitate the coolingeffect resulting from the evaporation of moisture held within thesponges.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,323,108 Setina r Nov. 25, 1919 1,519,878 Pugatsky et al Dec. 16, 19242,096,914 Myers Oct. 26, 1937 2,265,530 Kleinman Dec. 9, 1941 2,544,381Goldmerstein i Mar. 6, 1951 2,769,308 Krasno Nov. 6, 1956 2,832,077McGinnis Apr. 29, 1958 2,875,447 Goldrnerstein Mar. 3, 1959

